Ireland: Bereaved mothers raise alarm over sudden child deaths

Two mothers in Ireland whose babies died suddenly last year have launched a campaign to raise awareness about a condition called sudden unexplained death of a child (SUDC).

SUDC refers to deaths among apparently healthy children between one and 18 years of age that cannot be explained even after thorough investigations, including autopsies.

The phenomenon is said to be rare, with estimates ranging between 0.6 and 1 child per 100,000 dying suddenly and inexplicably.

Now Laura Mitten, who lost her 19-month-old Ada, and Laura Doran, who lost her 15-month-old Brandon, teamed up after they noticed that there are no SUDC support groups in Ireland. The fact that both women come from Tallaght, Ireland is being called an “extraordinary coincidence”.

“SUDC is very rare, so it is an extraordinary coincidence that two families from the same community have been impacted,” wrote Sunday World.

The UK’s National Health Service began devoting attention to SUDC last October and announced a series of measures to raise awareness of the phenomenon. This included data collection and education of health professionals.

"This is such positive historic progress, a landmark moment,” said Dr. Nikki Speed from SUDC UK, a charity dedicated to the cause. “Never has the NHS shown such support to stop sudden unexplained death in childhood.”

"Never has there been such a clear statement to review public information on SUDC, optimise data collection and learn how we could prevent future tragedies. We finally have confidence that things will progress in our fight to stop SUDC,” she added.

The UK’s Office of National Statistics has published SUDC figures through 2020, but has yet to publish data for 2021 and 2022. The ONS did not immediately respond to a Frontline News request for comment.

In January, the UK parliament held its first-ever discussion on SUDC.

"This category of death has never been brought to the attention of the Government before, and I will be asking for the Minister and their Department to encourage consistent medical education and training, to help prioritise national scientific research into this category of death and to help immediately update public information to include SUDC,” said Primary Care and Public Health Minister Neil O’Brien MP.